Life, 1928-10-12 · page 5 of 44
Life — October 12, 1928 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **primarily a Gillette Safety Razor advertisement**, not satirical content. The ad occupies most of the space with product photography showing shaving supplies on a bathroom shelf. The advertisement uses a sentimental narrative hook: "Is this the day?" addresses fathers, suggesting the moment when a son first shaves and needs his own razor. The copy appeals to paternal sentiment and duty, framing the purchase as a rite of passage—"eight out of ten American fathers" buying Gillette razors for their sons. The small circular vignette at top shows what appears to be two figures (likely a father and son), reinforcing this generational theme. This reflects early 20th-century advertising strategy: linking consumer products to life milestones and masculine identity rather than simply describing product features. There is no satirical content—this is straightforward commercial messaging.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
4s this the day? OR you as for every other father there will come a day when you will look at your son and reflect: he has washed his face; it looks like—can it be? It is! It’s un- deniably a beard. Time flies. Now do for him what your father did for you, and what eight out of ten American fathers are doing for their sons; buy him his New Im- proved Gillette and get him safely launched on a life-long career of smooth, successful shaves. Guette Sarety Razor Co., Boston, U.S. A. THE NEW IMPROVED Gillette SAFETY RAZOR 85 to 875 BOSTONIAN (right). Opening the cover automatically raises tray containing Razor and Blade Box. Heavily Gold Plated, $6.00. Heavily Silver Plated, $5.00, Tea, Gillette Blades (twenty shaving edges) with each set. TUCKAWAY, A small com- = NEW STANDARD. Heavily pacteet in Heavily Gold or Sil- Gold or Silver Plated in Gen- ver Plated Case, purple velvet _uine Leather Covered Case. Ten seduatin Lined, With ten Gile _—_ Gillette Blades (twenty shaving lete Blades (twenty shaving edges) included, $5.00. edges), $5.00, TRAVELER. Genuine Leather SOMERSET. Case, Blade Case, Heavily Gold Plated Ra» ‘Box and Razor all Heavily Sil- tor, Blade Box with ten Gillette Blades, (twenty shaving edges) ‘424 Soap and Brush Containers, $10.00, The came set Heavily Saver Plated, $7.50, comicbooks.com